As Alex has said.. You won't get a good shot from the Stratosphere. It is still almost 10 miles away. Don't bother with a cab as I'd say a cab ride from Mandalay Bay will probably cost about $100 each way. It's $40 just from McCarran to Mandalay Bay now. If you don't rent a car, go with Uber as a friend of mine did it last year and from McCarran to Nellis cost him $20.

Regarding the participation list... Nellis is very slow, they start adding aircraft around September!

MiG_Eater wrote:This is a real disaster for me, I booked my flights two days ago...

Can anybody advise what spotting is like around the base on ordinary days?

Excellent.

At the race track end, parking next to the race track fence (not the airfield fence, you will get a visit and get told to leave) you can get good shots of departing and arriving aircraft. POINT A https://goo.gl/maps/KSuFQejHdav

Departing aircraft “flex” left and you get a topside more often than not.Arriving aircraft on the right hand runway turn short finals around you so again, you get topsides. You can try and get shots of aircraft using the left hand runway but they’re a little far away.

At the other end of the runway is a scrap yard. The A-10’s tend to use the right hand runway when this end is in use and there is a superb spot to bag them from walking down a storm drain (watch out for Rattlers). POINT B https://goo.gl/maps/obQnKeXFzsk

Arrivals to the left hand runway are possible but you have to watch for the pit bulls in the scrap yards. We stood on the concrete Balls at the location linked and got a visit from a dog that would not leave us alone! POINT C https://goo.gl/maps/L4ya9f2FzUG2

It's a fairly busy base due to the NTTR. There is regular visiting squadrons (often foreign) using the NTTR for training/weapons school and based units include a lot of A-10's, test Raptors '35's and F-16's plus aggressor F-16's/civilian.

I've been twice, once outside of Red Flag and once during Flag. The former saw German Tonka's and a USAF E-3 turn up.

Of course you're not all that far from Rainbow Canyon which is a few hours out of Vegas for something different! Would recommend a drive out to the Hoover Dam too, it's quite a sight!

As well as Rainbow Canyon I am considering a visit up to Rachel to see active aircraft. Does anyone have any advice on either of these? (Perhaps time to move this to another thread... although it's quite relevant since many people will be in the same predicament as me!)